I love the story about the Lutheran pastor who always started each service off with the phrase, "The Lord be with you." The people would then respond, "and also with you.”
However, one Sunday the sound system wasn’t working very well. The pastor stepped up to the pulpit and said, "There’s
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THE PRAYER AND THE CHAIR
A woman called a pastor to come to the house to see her father. He goes to the house not knowing whether the man is Christian or not but he notices as he talks to him and the man answers back that he must be a Christian and there is a chair sitting close by. An empty
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Prayer: Form vs. Substance
There was a man who would start his day by kneeling beside his bed and spending an hour or so in prayer. But he had a cat that would disturb him and would nuzzle up against him. So to keep his cat from disturbing his prayer time, he would tie the cat to his
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The Privilege of Praying to God as Our Father
The great preacher, teacher, and well-known speaker, Rev. Haddon W. Robinson, in his book entitled "What Jesus Said About Successful Living: Principles from the Sermon on the Mount for Today," writes, "In the Old Testament, the Israelites did not
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William Cowper’s "On Opening a Place for Social Prayer"
In considering the audience of prayer, properly put, it is God, yet, it is the company of others that deserves prayer. William Cowper wrote this entitled: "On Opening a Place for Social Prayer"
Jesus! where’er Thy people meet,
There they
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Rearranging Ashes
The story is told of an eastern ascetic holy man who covered himself with ashes as a sign of humility and regularly sat on a prominent street corner of his city. When tourists asked permission to take his picture, the mystic would rearrange his ashes to give the best image of
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Sin and Hypocrites
Some mistakenly think that they are free to sin, just so long as they aren't hypocrites about it, that the worst form of sin is hypocrisy. Often one hears it said, "I know I'm not perfect, but at least I'm not hypocritical about it."
A few years ago in Texas there were two
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Chrysostom on Prayer--Without the Spirit Our Prayer Bouquets are Like Weeds
Chrysostom, a 4th century preacher, used this analogy for prayer. A young boy wanted to give a gift to his father who had been away a long time. His mother sent him to the garden to pick a bouquet of flowers. The boy
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Why Doesn’t Anybody Wear Shoes in this City?
In Hugh Price Hughes’ story, the "City of Everywhere," a man arrived in a city one cold morning. as he got off the train, the station was like any other station with the crowds and redcaps, except that everybody was barefooted. they wore no shoes. He
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S.D. Gordon on Who The Great People Are
Let me share the words of S.D. Gordon. "The great people of the earth today are the people who pray. I do not mean those who talk about prayer; nor those who say they believe in prayer; nor yet those who can explain about prayer; but I
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ON PRAYER
Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer told a story on the subject of prayer. A certain minister was in the habit of profound prayers, oftentimes resorting to words beyond the understanding of his simple flock. This went on week after week, to the dismay and frustration of the congregation.
At
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ON PRAYER--PART 2
Samuel Pepys was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament in the seventeenth century, who is now most famous for his diary. "Prayer is not a lazy substitute for work. It is not a shortcut to skill or knowledge. And sometimes God delays the answer to our prayer in
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MORE ON PRAYER
Leonard Ravenhill - Prayer is not an argument with God to persuade him to move things our way, but an exercise by which we are enabled by his Spirit to move ourselves his way.
Harry Emerson Fosdick - Prayer is putting oneself under God’s influence.
Pope Pius XII - A man
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DO NOT KEEP ON BABBLING
Dr. Clarence Bass, professor at Bethel Theological Seminary, early in his ministry preached at a church in Los Angeles. He thought he had done quite well as he stood at the door greeting people as they left the church. The remarks about his preaching were complimentary.
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François Fénelon once wrote:
"Lord, I know not what I ought to ask of Thee; Thou only knowest what I need; Thou lovest me better than I know how to love myself. O Father! give to Thy child that which he himself knows not how to ask. I dare not ask for crosses or consolations; I simply present
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The roof of the church hall of a little Swiss church, at the turn of the 20th century, was falling down. So the members of the church held regular prayer meetings in the hall after the service to pray for funds to repair the roof .
There was an old man, known to be very tight with his money,
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I like the story about 3 prospectors who found a rich vein of gold in California during the gold rush days. They realized what a great discovery they had, & decided, "We’ve a really good thing going here as long as no one else finds out about it." So they each took a vow to keep it
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A little girl’s Prayer: A little girl was being punished by eating alone in the corner of the dining room. The family paid no attention to her until they heard her pray: “I thank Thee, Lord,
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